The Withdrawal Agreement entered into force on 1 February 2020, after being approved on 17 October 2019. It consists, inter alia, of a protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland. The EU-27 (EU Member States with the exception of the United Kingdom) notes that sufficient progress has been made in Phase 1. This means that Phase 2 of the negotiations can begin. In Phase 2, the EU and the UK continue to negotiate the Withdrawal Agreement. But they also begin to discuss a period of transition and explore their future relationship. The possibility of a sharp and clean break caused significant unease, as the UK would remain without a legal framework for transparent trade with its main external market. The no-deal scenario was avoided, a withdrawal agreement[1] was agreed in principle in November 2019 and adopted by the United Kingdom[2] and the European Parliament[3] and the Council[4] in January 2020. The European Union and the United Kingdom have approved the Withdrawal Agreement. The British Parliament and the European Parliament have yet to approve the Withdrawal Agreement. The Withdrawal Agreement between the European Union and the United Kingdom sets out the conditions for an orderly withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU in accordance with Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union.
The Withdrawal Agreement also contains provisions allowing the United Kingdom to let the United Kingdom link the Statute of the European Schools to the United Kingdom by the Convention and the accompanying rules for accredited European Schools until the end of the last academic year of the transition period, i.e. until the end of the 2020-2021 spring semester. [20] On 19 October, a statement was also submitted to Parliament indicating that a political agreement had been reached. The UK government and the remaining 27 EU member states accept the draft agreement. The Northern Ireland Protocol, known as the ”Irish backstop”, was an annex to the November 2018 draft agreement that outlined provisions to prevent a hard border in Ireland after the United Kingdom`s withdrawal from the European Union. The Protocol contains a provision on a safety net to deal with circumstances in which other satisfactory arrangements have yet to enter into force at the end of the transition period. This project has been replaced by a new protocol which will be described below. The new relationship between the EU and the UK will start if an agreement has been reached that has been approved by EU member states, the European Parliament and the UK Parliament. British Prime Minister Theresa May calls on the EU to postpone Brexit until 30 June 2019. However, this does not prevent the UK from leaving without a deal on 29 March. First, the other 27 EU member states must unanimously approve Mrs May`s request.
The 599-page Withdrawal Agreement covers the following main areas:[16] In 2019, the UK acceded to the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement as an independent member. The GPA is a plurilateral agreement whose proponents grant each other access to public procurement. Like the EU public procurement directives, the GPA requires certain minimum standards to open up public procurement to the private sector on an international basis. However, the GPA offers more flexibility than EU rules. Accordingly, the UNITED Kingdom should consider new national public procurement rules that are less prescriptive than they are at present. The agreement was revised as part of the Johnson Ministry`s renegotiation in 2019. The amendments adapt about 5% of the text. [22] After a period of intense negotiations, the EU and the UK have reached a new agreement consisting of an updated Withdrawal Agreement and a Political Declaration (PD). These were published on October 17, 2019. On 17 October 2019, the UK and the EU reached an agreement on the terms of the UK`s withdrawal from the EU (Brexit) and on a transition period until 31 December 2020.
Under the revised Protocol of October 2019, an open border between Northern Ireland and Ireland will be maintained if the UK and the EU are unable to conclude a new agreement on the future relationship by the end of the transition period. .